Help troubleshooting pie problem

[abjcooking]

For Christmas my mother cooked a pie that had a meringue on top and can not figure out what went wrong. I was hoping someone else here can help me out.

The result of the pie after taking out of the oven was that the meringue had brown crystals on top and the pie was very wattery.

Recipe:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 heaping T. butter
2 T. flour
1 1/2 T cocoa
2 cups milk
1 t. vanilla
Combine eggs and dry ingredients smooth all lumps and add milk, vanilla and butter. Cook in double boiler


Meringue:
3 egg whites
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla
6 T. sugar

Bake 350 12-15 minutes in a pre-bought and cooked pie crust

 

[Alix]

If I'm not mistaken, this is supposed to be a chocolate pudding pie with meringue. In my recipe I have some cornstarch and you cook the mixture until it thickens, then you pour into a pie shell that you have baked about 10 minutes already. The meringue goes on top and you just watch it and take it out when it gets golden.

Try adding about 1 tbsp of cornstarch to the chocolate mixture and cook it until it thickens. I bet that will fix it for you.

 

[marmalady]

If the meringue had crystals on it, my thoughts would be that the egg whites were either overbeaten or underbeaten; sounds like the sugar wasn't incorporated enough, and formed the crystals.

To keep a pie from 'weeping', in general, make sure the meringue is spread all the way out to the very edges of the crust, so that no filling shows through.

 

[PA Baker]

To keep a pie from 'weeping', in general, make sure the meringue is spread all the way out to the very edges of the crust, so that no filling shows through.

I've found this makes all the difference in the outcome of a meringue!

 

[Andy M.]

Also, weeping is caused by overcooking the meringue. The excess heat causes the proteins in the egg whites to contract, squeezing out little droplets of liquid.

If you sprinkle a layer of fine cake crumbs on the filling before topping it with the meringue, it will absorb any moisture that forms there.